Hands-on with Layering Identity

Join artist Paula Mans for a mixed-media collage workshop that explores identity, history, and resistance. Working with reclaimed fabric, found objects, and photographic portraiture, participants will learn how to create collages that center the subject as agents of self. Drawing on her practice of fragmenting and reassembling images of people from across the African diaspora, Mans will guide participants to create layered works that reflect the multiplicity of identity. We will explore how materials carry memory and how gaze can be flipped, from viewer to subject, as a form of empowerment. And we will learn to expand traditional notions of collage to incorporate textiles and found objects along with paper-based materials. 

Participants are encouraged to bring found objects and photos to incorporate into their collages. 

No experience necessary. All materials provided. 

IMAGE: Paula Mans, Of Her Own Making, 2025, Mixed media collage on wood panel, 40 x 30 in., 

About Paula Mans

Paula Mans is a painter, collagist, and art educator based in Washington, DC. While Paula is a native Washingtonian, she spent many of her formative years living in Tanzania, Mozambique, Eswatini, and Brazil. Her experiences throughout the African Diaspora shaped her identity and informed the development of her artistic voice. Mans’ work has been curated into group shows in Washington, DC, Baltimore, New Orleans, Atlanta, New York City, and Kranj, Slovenia. Her work has been featured in the Washington City Paper, Contemporary Collage Magazine, Suboart Magazine, Canvas Rebel Magazine and on Fox 5 DC. Mans is a Sustainable Arts Foundation grantee, a recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship, a Vermont Studio Center Visual Art Fellow, and a Fulbright Research awardee. Her work has recently been acquired by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank collection.